Black Unicorn

As promised, here is the process post of the black unicorn. The process for this one was basically the same as for the white unicorn, except that I added the hair at the beginning. That way I did not have to worry about a seam at the top of the head, but it made the whole process much more complicated because the curly hair was sticking to everything and started to look gray when I sanded the head down, because the dust clung to the fake hair.

I started with an aluminium foil, wire and sticky tape armature and glued the hair to the back of the head into a deep cut I made with a scalpel. I used a lot of glue and it was a messy affair.

This is with the first layer of clay added. I wrapped the hair in foil so it did not get stuck to the clay. The nostrils look really stubby and kind of awkward here, so I changed them the next day.

I looked up some pictures of draft horses and changed the nostrils that way. And I added a little beard which you can barely see in any picture because the head is always resting on the chin.

The base coat of the unicorn is black gesso. I like the idea of the big black unicorn head but it was hard to add any details like I did with the white unicorn, and taking pictures is kind of hard.

 

Here it is, all finished. It has a gilded horn as well, and yellow-ish eyes. And you can see the beard in this picture. There is nothing else to say, except that I really like handling the two heads, but I put them away for now because i want to use a mat varnish and I have not found one yet that won't turn yellow after some time.

Frida

You might remember that black fox doll I was working on. Yeah, I never posted a picture of her finished, so here is a complete update, pictures from the beginning to the real "birth".

I always start with the face. Usually I use some air drying clay which works find for that kind of face and snout. Currently I am trying some new things, but I am fighting with myself...

When I am cutting all the parts and sewing them together I am often working on the floor, since I don't have a table that is big enough for all of it. And I can vacuum after scattering fake fur everywhere, which is a plus.

A wip pic. Nearly done with sewing everything together.

Done with the body. It has a wire armature inside so it is poseable. This was the first time I worked with an armature, and it was really hard. Sadly, it did not work out completely, one of the ears slipped out but all in all it does not look that bad for my first time. After I finish the body I start to paint the face. I always wait until the whole body is assembled and dyed (I usually dye the body, but black velvet does not show much of anything so I skipped that step) because I try to fit the colors of the face and fur.

Working on the cape. The black lace is lovely, it has the perfect weight for a cloak or cape.

I added a wire to the collar because I wanted the whole thing to look witchy or like an evil queen or something like that.

And here it is, all finished. I really love her look but hate how hard it is to take decent pictures from all the black with my mobile phone. Hope that my camera won't have such a hard time.

Well, I hope you like the whole thing. I will make some decent pictures soon.

the frustration of not knowing your materials

I am usually a very spontaneous person when it comes to my art projects. I have an idea and I need to create it... right now. The only thing that is allowed to come between me and my art progress is a trip to an art supplies store to get everything I need. Yes, reading up on materials and techniques would probably be an immense help, but it always seems like such a waste of time to me. And finding things out on my own and experimenting can be very rewarding. Sometimes my way of doing it works, which is awesome. And sometimes it does not work.

One of these examples is the Raffi custom I am currently working on. I saw it and I had this instant idea... it had to have some antlers, big ones. Just.. because. I had already worked with wire armatures before, but the one for the Raffi turned out very wobbly. It might be because I only had some golden jewelry wire but what did it matter, it would have to work!

This is a picture of the very beginning. You can see the golden wire and the antlers in the back of the pic. And yes, I cut myself and used a Hello Kitty bandaid. I regret nothing!

I still had some super light air dry clay at home, so I decided that, when the antlers had to be that big, they should be light, because else they would probably bend down to the floor, which would look stupid. It took a lot of fumbling with the clay and the wire, both did not seem to like the idea to start a relationship for my little deer project. When I was done, it looked like this.

It was not that bad. They looked nice, but even after drying it was still bendy and wobbly, which was not what I wanted. I let it dry completely and decided to add another layer of light air drying clay. The antlers ended up a bit thicker, but still nice. Nice to look at at least.

But then, today, I moved it from the table, very carefully, to another place because I needed to clean a bit and one of the antlers broke. It did not fall off because of the wire underneath the clay, but I could not keep it like that. While staring at it in despair and thinking of some easy way out, I saw another crack on the other side.

 I decided to follow the fastest and probably easiest solution at that point, use some Magic Sculpt. I don't have that much experience with it yet, but I initially did not want to use it for the antlers because it is really heavy. I used it for the head and the whole thing is in danger of falling over if it was not for the tail of the same material that kept it kind of balanced. 

The antlers got another layer of clay and look really thick now. It is currently drying, but I have no experience at this, and I have no idea if it is the remedy for my breaking antlers.

So.. what does this whole experiment tell me? I should start planning things out a bit. If I had used the right thing from the beginning, this would not have happened. The right wire, the right clay... On the other hand, these failures help me realizing just that. That there are things I should not use in this or that way. But it probably cost me more time finding it out this way than it would have if I was just looking for advise on the internet.

I can't wait for the clay to dry. There is not much more I can do now but wait...